Monday, December 24, 2012

And the Word became flesh...

The birth of the Son of God was heralded by the angel of the Lord, accompanied by the shekinah, the glory of God, and was followed by a multitude of the heavenly host singing praises. And for whose benefit was this magnificent display? Kings? Presidents? Politicians? Religious leaders?

No, it was all for a few lowly shepherds – humble, poor, obscure and unnamed rustics of whom nothing more is heard in Scripture thereafter.

While today’s puffed-up prelates court the wealthy, famous and influential, so today’s wealthy, famous and influential seek out the private chapels and grand palaces of these prelates as the perfect stage for their displays of religiosity. But not these shepherds. No, the Lord deemed them worthy because they were lowly. They were not body-beautiful celebrities, gifted communicators, powerful decision makers or authoritative opinion formers; they were simply ordinary men, and the Lord chose them to be among the first to know that the Christ was born; that the Messiah had entered history; that the Son of God had come to redeem mankind - Immanuel.

As some reflect today on the Prime Minister's Christmas message (full text here), it is a relief to know that one day the Government will be upon His shoulder. The real deliverer and the real fulfilment of the needs of humanity is human, one of us, flesh of our flesh. He is born to rule, born to be a king, conceived of the house and lineage of David. His name is Wonderful – a mystery of divinity in humanity; Counsellor – the oracle of wisdom; the mighty God – the Word was not just with God, but was God; the Everlasting Father – not the same person as the Father, but of one substance with the Father; the Prince of Peace – bringing a peace that passes understanding.

His Grace wishes all of his regular communicants, all of his intermittent guests, and all of his occasional readers, a joyful and peaceful Christmas.

90 Comments:

It was apparently to the shepherds who were minding the lambs destined for sacrifice at the Temple that the message and the Glory of God was revealed.'|Peace to all men' is sometimes misunderstood.This was the Peace that the Messiah was to bring between a Just God and fallen man by the atonement of Jesus Christ at Calvary.Jesus is' the Lamb of God'who takes away the sins of the World for all who place their trust in Him.

The Word became flesh.....God became One with us so that we could become One with Him this is the miracle of salvation.

PS: I thought Bliar had an almighty nerve when he expected worldwide admiration for the birth of his presidential (sorry Prime Ministerial) child! So I much appreciate the "Gospel of dave" tweets ... shan't be bothering with his broadcast, of course.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to Your Grace and to all who have made comments on any topic on this blog in the past year, including all those people I have at any time disagreed with or criticised.

We, the handful of non-participants, the Jews, half-Jews, otherly-religious, atheists, agnostics, secularists, sectarians, heretics, contrarians or just plain malcontents, will strive to play nicely while you all worship and celebrate with your loved ones. We'll hold the fort, tidy up after ourselves, try hard not to break anything and will do our best to fulfill the commandment to smite the trolls to the last.

"At Bethleem Iude the Nativite and Byrth of Our Lorde and Sauyour Iesu Chryst the essenciall Sone of Almyghty God and the naturall Sone of the Blessed Lady Saynt Mary euer moost pure and immaculate Virgin which blessed Byrth was in the XLII yere of the Emperour Augustus, the very true tyme named and appoynted by the prophecy of Daniell as appereth in the IX Chaptyre of his Boke. The yere also of notable date amonge the Iewes called Olympiades CLXXX and XIII. The yere also from the foundacion and buyldynge of Rome VIIC and LII.

REJOICE, REJOICE, EMMANUEL HAS COME TO ISRAEL! PRAY ISRAEL WILL JOIN THE CELEBRATION.

Today on this celebration of His birth, let us turn our attention to the events surrounding Yeshua’s death. He was rejected, abandoned and betrayed by His followers:

Isaiah 53:2b-3

He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Psalm 41:9, 118:22

Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me…The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.

John 1:10-11

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Matthew 26:31 cf Zechariah 13:7

Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”

And yet there were those who did believe and welcomed Yeshua into Jerusalem.

John 12:12-15

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

“Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!”

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

May the hearts of many receive the Blessed truth of the Saviour.May the Love of God rest on all & may the next twelve months be a time of peace & revival.Thank you Dr Cranmer for allowing us to submit our thoughts & beliefs in 2012. I pray that your patience & fortitude be renewed & you & yours will be refreshed over the holiday period.

Avi.Happy Hanukah to you & yours as well. From Israel a light shone many years ago & Earth was blessed. I wish you Shalom in its fullest sense. Drive careful in the next year.

“Kindness and truth shall meet;justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth,and justice shall look down from heaven.The Lord himself will give his benefits;our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him,and salvation, along the way of his steps”(Ps 85:11-14).

Today these prophetic words have been fulfilled! In Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, kindness and truth do indeed meet; justice and peace have kissed; truth has sprung out of the earth and justice has looked down from heaven.

Saint Augustine explains with admirable brevity: “What is truth? The Son of God. What is the earth? The flesh. ... And in a Christmas sermon he says that “in this yearly feast we celebrate that day when the prophecy was fulfilled: ‘truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven’. The Truth, which is in the bosom of the Father has sprung out of the earth, to be in the womb of a mother too. The Truth which rules the whole world has sprung out of the earth, to be held in the arms of a woman ... The Truth which heaven cannot contain has sprung out of the earth, to be laid in a manger. For whose benefit did so lofty a God become so lowly? Certainly not for his own, but for our great benefit, if we believe” (Sermones, 185, 1).

“If we believe”. Here we see the power of faith! God has done everything; he has done the impossible: he was made flesh. His all-powerful love has accomplished something which surpasses all human understanding: the Infinite has become a child, has entered the human family. And yet, this same God cannot enter my heart unless I open the door to him. Porta fidei! The door of faith!

We could be frightened by this, our inverse omnipotence. This human ability to be closed to God can make us fearful. But see the reality which chases away this gloomy thought, the hope that conquers fear: truth has sprung up! God is born! “The earth has yielded its fruits” (Ps 67:7).

Yes, there is a good earth, a healthy earth, an earth freed of all selfishness and all lack of openness. In this world there is a good soil which God has prepared, that he might come to dwell among us. A dwelling place for his presence in the world.

This good earth exists, and today too, in 2012, from this earth truth has sprung up! Consequently, there is hope in the world, a hope in which we can trust, even at the most difficult times and in the most difficult situations.

Thanks for the special mention, Cressida; I did hope to be more serious, with an air of dignity and a gravitas, but that lasted about a day. All the best!

Preacher, thank you so kindly and the best Christmas and New Year's wishes to you and yours. I'll apply your greetings retroactively, as this year Hanukkah began on December 8 and ended on the 16th. Yup, that lunar Jewish, versus vernal equinox-based Gregorian, a.k.a. civil, calendar thing. Last year Hanukkah and Christmas overlapped, which is why you probably thought you had it good and nailed, didn't you? No such luck; next year Hanukkah begins even earlier and not until 2016 does it jump "ahead" and overlap with Christmas again. However, you're well ahead and safe if you have any Orthodox Christian friends, as their Christmas, also dated on December 25th, but on the Julian calendar, occurs on January 7th. Uh, well, that's unless they switched to the Gregorian, which syncs them with other Christians...but takes away their "unfair" advantage of accessing Boxing Day sales and general drop in prices for their gift shopping. O, yes, and our Jewish New Year in 2012 began with Rosh Hashanah at sun-down on September 16th, although since we use the Gregorian calendar with the rest of the world in our non-liturgical daily lives and in business, we'll take New Year's greetings for January 1st as well. There. All pretty clear and simple now, isn't it?

Merry Christmas, Dodo. Don't worry; I don't tie myself in knots or have conniptions over religious holyday greetings, figuring genuine good wishes are always welcome. At this time I'm dispatching and navigating for a young Sri Lankan colleague who's heading out to Alberta with my truck and doesn't trust this new-fangled GPS voodoo thing and I'm also moderating on a blog, covering for two Christian guys, so that they don't have to spend their holyday strapped to their laptops and cringing under their wives' glare. The driver is heading up the Trans-Canada Hwy for the next day or so...surely blasting Indian music and heating up his curry to change the olfactory properties of my sleeper for the next month or so... and unless he makes an inexplicable turn-off or a U-turn, doesn't need me yet. The blog site's pretty quiet, with a few usuals exchaging belated greetings. And so far, no annoying trolls here for me to play with or challenge.

Voodoo-thing? Voodoo-thing??! No, sir, it's something much more powerful than voodoo. It's math. The receiver measures the time delay from satellite to receiver. It needs four measurements (hence four satellites) because it must solve for four unknowns - three components of position and clock bias. A little linearization via a Taylor expansion and - viola! - position to within five meters. Happy trucker who always knows exactly where he is.

Oh, I love my GPS for truckers, Carl...keeps me from leaving my trailer under a low bridge or from barrelling down a no-trucks road with one of your American smokies waiting with his ticket book. It's my Indian friend who thinks that he has a "natural feel" for directions, which means I have to track him and call him every time he heads for the Arctic circle or the Atlantic Grand Banks.

But just remember, one nasty solar storm, like the Carrington Super-Flare of the 1800s and poof, we'll be looking for the old road atlasses in the attic. No hurry, though; It'll take while for me to harness a team of oxen.

Ah-ha, right, Dodo, I'll give you the key to the pantry. It's a science site anyway and I specialize in kicking off kooks trying to sneak in bizarre theories and quacks pretending to be mainstream whilst peddling snake oil. I've next to no science background, but studying pseudoscience developments, tracking modern myths and monitoring the nutter-sphere has been a long time diversion for me. It's actually how I wound up here; thought His Grace was faking being a reincarnation of Cranmer. Dude's the real thing, though. Scary. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

Ah, well, at this time of winter celebration, the Jewish side of the family likes to make sure our Christian side enjoy it...

.... so of course my wife, four sisters and two sisters in law decided that they were going to do a festive,but, Kosher meal for us all....

I am sure you know what it is like when 7 Jewish women all get together in a kitchen (gulp)....

Thankfully, I managed to delegate myself as chief beverage taster ... and still save the goal in our pre- family meal football (soccer to you and Carl) match which gave the Jews a 3-2 advantage at half time (I have to admit,though, that the uncle who posts here is quite a sprightly lad for an 89 year old).

Then there was the family watching of Dr who, followed by strickly. Good to get another glimpse of Darcey Bussell on British TV screens...

And now the kids have gone to bed, we begin the Kavanagh quiz; a mind numbing battle of wits and skill, not in one night of course.

The prize is 1 Good Delivery gold bar weighing 400 troy ounces.

The rules are

1) You have a lifeline, phone/e-mail a friend and 50/50.

2) The contest can be any 5 games the two contestants want, following the rules of those games. However there are actually 6 games. If you can answer that riddle, then there is an additional prize of a year's supply of your favourite tipple.

Cheers Avi. But I'm still in the dark as to if I was late for this year, or ridiculously early for next.Still one can never get too many real blessings, so enjoy & G-D Bless you Buddy.Don't put all your faith in Sat-Navs, if we'd waited for 'em to be invented Canada & the U.S would be empty save for a few Vikings & native folks. But it'd be standing room only in the Middle East & Europe.

Ha! A kosher Christmas dinner with 400 oz gold bars tossed about by tipsy, soccer-playing, Anglo-Jewish nobility. World's all normal again then, David, what after the global warming and Mayan calendar scares, not to mention the Obamamessiah in the White House and your remarkable "just call me Dave."

As for 7 Jewish women in the kitchen, leave them with enough bubbly white as a distraction and evacuate the shell-shocked male civilians to the wine cellar. Put a joke shop rubber rat on the stairs by the door, unscrew the light bulb and you should be safe from a search and destroy mission. And please give my best to Lord Lavendon; I'd place a bet on his team any time.

I was always going to say this to my relatives and about the secret of my precious gold bar... if you've ever had the joy of watching 'Kung Fu Panda' with your [grand & great] children/nephews/nieces/cousins several times removed, then you will understand that the secret ingredient of the special soup is.... likewise with my [fabled] gold bar...

Cheers, back to you, Preacher,, and blessings to you as well, friend. Sorry, bit unclear I was; you were about two weeks late. Better late than never, as they say. No need to worry; you can keep wishing me a Happy Hanukkah on all the upcoming Christmases and you'll be off by weeks until you hit jackpot in 2016 when the two holidays coincide. Then we can drink to that remarkable occurence.

Greetings, Miss Hannah, glad to know you're enoying your bubbly. The reference to TrES-2b is a dead giveaway. Better than a breathalizer. Make sure James collects all the jalopy keys, please. Had to google it, astronomy not being a forte of mine. Not after asking to see the stars through my university's telescope during the orientation tour before starting my freshman year. A perfectly sensible question...had it not been around noon. Yes, of course I still cringe. Anyhow, had to google your question. Wowzers, got lost reading up on it. I'm guessing the impossibly low albedo due to light absorbing chemicals?

Just a reminder to all again: No driving please, even if sober; plenty out there who are not and who think they can make a quick dash home. Or I'll start my tales about what I've seen on the highways over the years.

Oh, Miss Hannah; the men are hiding in the wine cellar. They unscrewed the light bulb and placed a fake rubber rat by the door to discourage the ladies. Devious and unprincipled cads, aren't they? By now they shouldn't be able to offer much resistance, though.

David, as your lay counsel for the night, I strongly advise you against trying the nail and fist trick whether you be a Yid or a Goy. Mother in laws are made of titanium and eat depleted uranium with their cereal, as you should know by now.

You must let go of the illusion of control, learn to live on a single gingko leaf and the energy of the universe, discover the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, find harmony and balance, and remember:

There you are, Dodo. No bubbly for you, I see. More like British Columbia sensemilla, or perhaps Skunk? With bong too, probably. Heady stuff and harsh delivery method. Rx: Down a quart of orange juice, lie down and put your feet up above head level. You're not dying, yes your heart is still beating and you'll be reasonably ok in an hour.

And as we are in the realm of the strange and surreal, I still cannot understand that Kinderling chappie. Far too 'mysterious' and 'cryptic' for me. I am waiting for the lad to say something like 'if you want to go up, you need to go down'.

I was always going to say this to my relatives and about the secret of my precious gold bar... if you've ever had the joy of watching 'Kung Fu Panda' with your [grand & great] children/nephews/nieces/cousins several times removed, then you will understand that the secret ingredient of the special soup is.... likewise with my [fabled] gold bar... (25 December 2012 22:26)

Ah, Lord Lavendon, missed your above post; rather fast-paced the action here, as you can see. Fortunately the science site I'm moderating is very quiet, with only a couple of wonks discussing the latest NOAA surface temperature adjustments and smoothings. You folks are much more fun. Btw, you're a better man than I, looking after the young of the tribe as you are; I couldn't watch Kung Fu Panda even for that mythical bar of gold.

The world rests on the wisdom and fortitude of women, Miss Kavanagh. Not to mention well-made meals which keep us males from subsisting on cocktail sausages and beer.

Sorry for the Americanisms like "jalopy." We Colonials have strange ideas about the lives and manners of the English nobility. "James" refers to generic British butlers in American movies. I think you need to make a census of your family, though, if you started looking for someone with that name.

I did read briefly about the "diamond planet." Probably DeBeers Mines is already on its way...with a few of our pawn brokers racing right behind, choking on the ion wake. What I don't get is where did so much inorganic carbon come from. I mean, it would have to be inorganic, right? But perhaps this is a discussion for another time.

Nice try, Dodo, as if you could stay up long enough for a political debate. Anyway, think of the concrete barriers as free community art project space for the Arabs. I was recently near the southern part of the Green Line and saw some pretty wild graffiti that must have taken a year to make. Buggers seem to have a lot of time on their hands with all the dough and goodies your taxes are providing them with. Should get at least a coffee table art book for your troubles, no?

Anyhoo, evryone's winding down, all's safe and clean so far. I gotta peel off my kiddies and their friends from the skating rink, make hot chocolates and drive everyone home. I'll look on you kids before hitting the sack to make you sure you're all tucked in, so on best behaviour now....

Thank you, Your Grace. You wrote, “It is a relief to know that one day the Government will be upon His shoulder”.

May I courteosly respond that the government already is upon His shoulder : “All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).

When churches abandon Scripture for political correctness, however, the exalted King over all is reduced to mere social worker and promoter of equality.

"In the United States - birth place, natural home, and guardian of the English language"

Wearing pants, kids called Randy...

Having said that I have a soft spot for Americans since last year when booking a break in an American Hotel we were told there were only standard rooms available. I asked if they had anything special as it was our wedding anniversary. After the response "Oh that is so lovely" I was told after a min or so I could have the penthouse suite overlooking the mountains for a special rate of just under three times the cost of a standard room.

The best part, they remembered it was our wedding anniversary and took an interest in us when we arrived.

Your post at 00.16. The explanation is nothing other than uncle wanting to keep the family engaged in games and together. (There is of course the urban legend version,which we were also told and I might write about at a later date).

We were trying to book into the theatre to go to the panto. Unfortunately, not enough tickets, so we are busy preparing to do our own. What fun !

I was Widow Twanky last year,so I think it only fair that brother Shlomo can take on that role. This year the panto is a pirate theme. I am playing the cook Long John Silverman. Now where has that Macaw gone?

About His Grace:

Archbishop Cranmer takes as his inspiration the words of Sir Humphrey Appleby: ‘It’s interesting,’ he observes, ‘that nowadays politicians want to talk about moral issues, and bishops want to talk politics.’ It is the fusion of the two in public life, and the necessity for a wider understanding of their complex symbiosis, which leads His Grace to write on these very sensitive issues.

Cranmer's Law:

"It hath been found by experience that no matter how decent, intelligent or thoughtful the reasoning of a conservative may be, as an argument with a liberal is advanced, the probability of being accused of ‘bigotry’, ‘hatred’ or ‘intolerance’ approaches 1 (100%).”

Follow His Grace on

The cost of His Grace's conviction:

His Grace's bottom line:

Freedom of speech must be tolerated, and everyone living in the United Kingdom must accept that they may be insulted about their own beliefs, or indeed be offended, and that is something which they must simply endure, not least because some suffer fates far worse. Comments on articles are therefore unmoderated, but do not necessarily reflect the views of Cranmer. Comments that are off-topic, gratuitously offensive, libelous, or otherwise irritating, may be summarily deleted. However, the fact that particular comments remain on any thread does not constitute their endorsement by Cranmer; it may simply be that he considers them to be intelligent and erudite contributions to religio-political discourse...or not.

The Anglican Communion has no peculiar thought, practice, creed or confession of its own. It has only the Catholic Faith of the ancient Catholic Church, as preserved in the Catholic Creeds and maintained in the Catholic and Apostolic constitution of Christ's Church from the beginning.Dr Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945-1961

British Conservatism's greatest:

The epithet of 'great' can be applied only to those who were defining leaders who successfully articulated and embodied the Conservatism of their age. They combined in their personal styles, priorities and policies, as Edmund Burke would say, 'a disposition to preserve' with an 'ability to improve'.

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS.(Prime Minister 1979-1990)

We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC.(Prime Minister 1957-1963)

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.Sir Winston Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can).(Prime Minister 1940-1945, 1951-1955)

I am not struck so much by the diversity of testimony as by the many-sidedness of truth.Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC.(Prime Minister 1923-1924, 1924-1929, 1935-1937)

If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC.(Prime Minister 1885-1886, 1886-1892, 1895-1902)

I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad. I seek to preserve property and to respect order, and I equally decry the appeal to the passions of the many or the prejudices of the few.Benjamin Disraeli KG, PC, FRS, Earl of Beaconsfield.(Prime Minister 1868, 1874-1880)

Public opinion is a compound of folly, weakness, prejudice, wrong feeling, right feeling, obstinacy, and newspaper paragraphs.Sir Robert Peel, Bt.(Prime Minister 1834-1835, 1841-1846)

I consider the right of election as a public trust, granted not for the benefit of the individual, but for the public good.Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.(Prime Minister 1812-1827)

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.The Rt Hon. William Pitt, the Younger.(Prime Minister 1783-1801, 1804-1806)